


The Definition of Self

by Chemicataclysm (ARealSlimScotty)



Category: Sonic Boom (Cartoon), Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff and Angst, In a way, Metal sonic is a self learning AI and this is him growing up, Slice of Life, and uhhh metal uses it/its pronouns for a few chapters???, eggman is never called robotnik cause fuck that noise, im not sure how to describe it, kind of, maybe?? - Freeform, metal sonic is just called metal for the sake of simplicity, more tags to be added once I figure out what the fuck im doing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-03
Updated: 2018-09-05
Packaged: 2019-07-06 06:03:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15880038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ARealSlimScotty/pseuds/Chemicataclysm
Summary: Self is defined as "A person's essential being that distinguishes them from others, especially considered as the object of introspection or reflexive action" but, as Metal Sonic learns and grows, he quickly begins to find out that despite being 'self-learning' he lacks an actual sense of self.





	1. >Boot up

A small beeping sound played through the room. Red eyes flickered on and scanned around curiously. Metal looked down at its hands. Oh. It was alive. It clenched and unclenched its fists. It could move. That was interesting. It liked moving. How did it do that? Why could it do that? The robot scanned through its memory card, searching for information. It wanted to know more about itself. 

Metal’s memory card was empty for the most part. That was odd. Robots normally had more files. The lack of files seemed to point to one thing: this was the first time it had ever been booted up. It had next to nothing to go off of for anything. It had no clue why it was alive, where it was, or who it was. 

It took a step back and tilted its head up even more. It saw a figure. Who was that? Was it dangerous? Before Metal got the chance to try and form a question, the man grinned and clasped his hands together.

“Splendid!” He beamed, reaching out to touch Metal, “I finally managed to get you up and running,” he hummed and patted the robot’s head lightly, “Welcome home, Metal Sonic.”

Metal let out a louder buzz when the man touched its forehead, shrinking away from the hand almost violently. Why was he doing that? Why did he touch it? It didn’t like the way that felt. It didn’t like being touched.

“Metal Sonic?” It asked, taking a step away from the man, “Who is that? Is that me?” It seemed to stumble over its words awkwardly. The synthetic voice it used sounded weird and choppy. It wasn’t used to speaking, and its voice chip was still getting broken in.

The man pulled his hand away and nodded. “Yes. You are Metal Sonic. That is your name.” He spoke in a matter of fact way, not leaving anything to be interpreted. Metal liked that. It didn’t think it could decipher any speech that was less literal right now.

Metal took another step backward. It didn’t want to stand too close to the man, in case he tried to touch it again. It didn’t want that. “I am Metal Sonic,” it repeated, making note of that, “Who are you?”

“I am Doctor Eggman,” He said with a smile, “You can just call me doctor.” Metal made another note, making sure it remembered Eggman’s name and what it should call him.

Then something clicked. Metal let out a loud beep and connected that name with one of the few files on its memory card. Its primary objective. “One of my objectives is to obey and serve you. Is that correct?”

Eggman nodded, “Correct! Do you know what your other objectives are?”

Metal mirrored Eggman’s nod. Clearly, that was an affirmative gesture. “I do. They are to be better than Sonic and to defeat Sonic.”

Eggman gave another nod, and he seemed almost giddy about this. His excitement was clear. He was happy to have Metal around. “You’re right! I’m glad your objectives are on your hard drive. It’s almost empty, right?” When Metal nodded, Eggman continued to talk, “It’s supposed to be like that. Metal Sonic, you don’t have a preprogrammed personality or a ready to access database of information. I want you to be more powerful than all my other creations, and for that to happen you must be able to build that power on your own. You are self-learning. On your memory card is a dictionary and a few other things that might come in handy. But, that’s about it.”

Metal made an odd humming sound and nodded again. That was the only gesture it knew right now. “Very well,” it said, “How should I start, doctor?”

“You can start by letting me show you where your bedroom is,” Eggman said, taking a step forward and grabbing Metal’s hand. Metal flinched again in response, emitting another string of buzzing noises. But, it made no move it pull its hand away. One of its objectives was to obey Eggman. If Eggman grabbed its hand, it was in no position to stop the contact. 

Eggman led Metal around the base, pulling it through various hallways and doors. The base was clearly large. Metal snapped a photo of every room and made sure to map the route they were taking. It didn’t want to get lost. On top of that, it kept scanning the various places for anything it might want to learn about later.

After a while, Eggman opened up a small door, walking inside the room. It wasn’t very large. The walls were plain. The only thing there was, was a charging station in the middle of the room. Metal looked around. “Is this my bedroom?” it asked.

“Yes, it is,” Eggman answered, “You can decorate it if you start to develop a taste for anything. Charge yourself when your battery gets low. I’m going to go work on a few other projects, but feel free to explore and learn things.”

“Very well. I will,” Metal said, before pausing, “I just have one question, doctor.” 

Eggman had started to walk away but stopped in his tracks. “What is it?” he asked, tilting his head as he looked back at Metal.

Metal mirrored the head tilt. Was that a gesture used when asking questions? It assumed so. “Who is Sonic?” it asked, curious. It wanted to know who it was trying to be better than and who it was supposed to defeat. 

Eggman chuckled. “You’ll have to figure that out for yourself.” And, with that, he left. Metal watched as Eggman walked out of its bedroom, before looking around again. It added a few temporary objectives: Develop a taste for something, explore, and find out who Sonic is.

It’d do that later, though. Even though it had a billion questions running through its head, Metal didn’t want to find out the answers to them right now. It wanted to learn how to move properly instead. Its walking had been pretty clunky and weird earlier, but it liked the way it felt to move and do things. It wanted to do them the right way.


	2. >Walk and explore

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Metal learns to walk, tries to run, and explores. Idk. The next chapter will be longer and more interesting I promise

Metal had taken to pacing around its room. It walked, even if said walk looked more like an awkward stumble. It was trying its best and it worked. Metal could walk forward successfully. Developing its footing was an odd but satisfying process. It hadn’t been programmed with a walk cycle, so it had to figure it out for itself.

Metal analyzed footage it recorded earlier, replicating the way Eggman had been walking. All it had to do was follow a simple pattern. Contact, passing position, contact, repeat. Metal liked it. It felt nice. Its walk wasn’t the greatest, but the awkward stumble slowly turned into a sufficient toddle. Metal decided that was fine for now. Its walking skills would improve the more it walked, so there was no need to refine the process anymore. It would improve naturally. As long as Metal could move from one place to another, it was fine.

But, there was one thing it still wanted to know about walking. Metal wanted to know the limitations. How far could it walk? How fast could it walk? 

It had been moving around at a slow pace, but Metal decided it was time to test things out a bit more. The results were mixed. The first time Metal tried to speed up, it ended up collapsing onto its bedroom floor. It had accelerated too fast and its legs didn’t accommodate. The second attempt at running was also a failure, considering the fact that Metal had run into a wall. Even though Metal had managed to move its legs in time with its speed, it didn’t consider the size of the room it was in. Running was clearly more complicated than walking. They were similar, yes, but very different. 

Metal let out a few beeping noises as it thought about what to do next. Would the ability to run develop naturally too? It wasn’t sure. But, after crunching through the numbers in its head, it figured that was a good thing to bet on. And, even if it wasn’t, walking would work for now. Metal decided it would be best to work on its other objectives. It would save time. It needed to develop a taste, explore, and find out who Sonic was. It didn’t have time to waste on learning to run. Plus, maybe if it completed its objectives, it’d be able to answer a few questions it had. 

But, a more important question was… how? How was Metal supposed to complete its objectives? It wasn’t sure what exactly a “taste” was or how to develop one. It knew it wanted to explore, but it wasn’t sure how much it was supposed to explore. Was it supposed to explore the base? The area surrounding the base? What if Eggman wanted Metal to explore the whole world? Metal didn’t think that was a task it could handle right now. The world was large and expansive. And, since it couldn’t travel too fast, it would take a long time for Metal to explore the earth.

And, on top of that, Metal was already calculating how likely it would be that it’d find Sonic. As far as Metal knew, the probability was low. There were countless beings on the planet, and the chance of one of them being Sonic was next to nothing. There were many other factors to take into account too. Metal knew nothing about Sonic. It had no knowledge of the other’s appearance, location, personality, or anything else that might help.

Eventually Metal just let out a string of dejected beeps. It didn’t want to think of those things for too long. Since there wasn’t much in its database currently, everything seemed impossible and daunting. It decided to just look around the base. Then, if that felt satisfying or successful, it’d leave and look elsewhere. If Metal didn’t actually like exploring, it’d stay put in its room until Eggman gave it a task.

Taking a step out of its room, Metal peeked around curiously. There were a lot of rooms. It remembered the path to where ever it had woken up, but there seemed to be way more places than it originally thought. It was a bit excited. There was so much to see! Where should it start? It decided to go to the room on its right, and from there wandered around aimlessly.

Metal made sure to take photos of every new room and create a mental map. The base was its home, after all. It’d be best to know the way around. Most of the rooms were the same with a few minor changes. Crates were in different places sometimes, some rooms had more monitors, some had different machines in them. But, overall, they were very easy to memorize and predict. Metal liked that. It liked predictable and simple rooms. It was fun to know exactly what’d be everywhere. It made Metal feel like it knew a lot more than it actually did.

After a few hours of exploring everything the base had to offer, Metal decided that it was time to venture out elsewhere. It wanted to know what was outside of the base. It decided that it enjoyed exploring. Metal made its way to what he assumed was the front door, and it was glad to see that its walking was getting more and more efficient. Spending a while practicing made things easier.

It hesitated for a moment, but Metal opened the door and walked outside. It had seen a few glimpses of the surrounding area through windows earlier. It had an idea of what to expect. But this? This surpassed every expectation Metal had. Its bright red eyes glanced from side to side at a fast pace, trying to take it all in as quickly as possible. There was so much to look at. Metal wasn’t sure what it should focus on first.

The trees, the grass, the sky, the animals… Metal didn’t know what to think of it all. Unlike the base, it was unpredictable. It was organic. It was original and weird. Metal hadn’t seen much yet, but it was nothing like the base. The layout of nature was sporadic, each plant was different, and no two clouds looked the same. Not to mention the fact that everything was moving.

Metal felt a little dizzy. Or, overwhelmed maybe? It wasn’t sure what word to use. There were a lot of things. Metal was a little excited to learn but, overall, it wasn’t a fan. Nature didn’t have the same consistency that the inside of the base had. It liked predictable patterns. Was that a taste it had developed?

It had been standing there idly for a few minutes but decided to get right to exploring. Metal wanted to meet its objectives as fast as possible so it could go back to its room. It took time to walk around and look at everything. It shook trees and tried to climb some, it picked at blades of grass and watched bugs crawl along the ground. Even though Metal wasn’t particularly fond of nature, it had to admit that there was so much more to see out here than there was at the base. Metal was having fun. Or, some form of fun, at least

Metal liked learning. There was a lot to learn about. It spent a good half hour just laying in the grass and staring at butterflies. As much as it liked the sameness of the base, there wasn’t much to learn there. Once you knew one room, you knew them all. Nature offered a lot less comfort and consistency but made up for that by having lots of things to see and do. Metal could see the appeal. 

It sat up after a bit and looked around. Okay. It had explored and learned about nature. It had developed something like a taste. Now it just had to figure out who Sonic was.

It stood up and ran some numbers in its head. Should it just look for Sonic? Or should it wait for Sonic to find it? Metal had no clue. But, regardless, it started walking forward. The sooner Metal found Sonic, the sooner it’d be able to form more objectives for itself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos are appreciated as always <3


	3. >Discover "Sonic"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Metal sees sonic for the first time but >:0 they dont talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaa I hope the transition from it/its pronouns to he/him pronouns made sense dfjkfnshald!!! aaa 
> 
> comments and kudos are appreciated as alwaysss <3

After a while of walking, Metal came upon a clearing in the woods with a few small buildings. It tilted its head to the side as it looked around. What was this? This wasn't nature and this wasn’t the base. Metal made note of its current location, and It briefly wondered how many other buildings were in the world. Then it shook its head. It continued to move forward. There were other times to wonder about the total number of buildings in existence. For now, Metal had to find Sonic.

It decided that since there was a slim chance any given lifeform could be Sonic, it would be best to treat everyone as such. Metal planned on lurking around quietly and trying its best not to be seen. This way, if Sonic was here, he wouldn’t notice Metal. Metal didn’t want to talk to Sonic right now. It just wanted to figure out who the other was. Then, it would do research and work on being better. It’d talk to Sonic when it was ready. 

Metal chose a nice hiding spot, crouching behind a bush that was a couple yards away from a house. There were a few animals walking out of the building. If one of them ended up being Sonic, Metal would stay here and listen in. If none of them were Sonic, Metal would lurk around and find a different hiding spot. It was a perfect plan. Or, good enough for now, at least. That seemed to be a trend with Metal. Everything about it was only “good enough” at the moment.

Which, admittedly, left the robot feeling a bit dejected. It was supposed the be the best. It was supposed to be great. Not subpar and passable. Metal didn’t want to sit around and wait to be fantastic, it wanted to be fantastic right now. It let out a small buzz, hanging its head low for a moment. Why couldn’t Eggman just program it with more knowledge and skills? Why did it have to suffer through being mediocre? It’d give anything to be better faster. 

Before Metal could get too wrapped into its own thoughts, it picked up on the sound of voices. Oh? It poked its head up from the top of the bush and listened in, looking at the group in front of the building. There were three of them. A yellow fox, a blue hedgehog, and a pink… something. Metal was pretty sure the pink one was also a hedgehog, but it wasn’t one hundred percent sure so it didn't want to make any calls.

The three were just making idle conversation. It bored Metal, in all honesty. It had no interest in what any of them were talking about. Metal didn’t care about planes, it didn’t care about the weather, it didn’t care about “chaos emeralds”, and it didn’t care about Soni-

Wait a second. Sonic? Metal started paying a bit more attention to what was being said once it heard that name and noticed that the yellow and pink ones kept referring to the blue one as Sonic. Was that the Sonic that Metal was supposed to be better than?

It focused its vision on the hedgehog. Yes. That was probably the one Metal was supposed to be better than. Sonic looked a lot like Metal, after all. His blue was pretty close to the shade Metal was painted, his quills were shaped like Metal's head, and he was even around the same height as Metal. That made Metal feel a bit weird. It didn't like knowing that there was another thing like it in the world. It wanted to be the only thing like it.

Metal shook its head and instead tried to note more things about Sonic. It didn’t want to focus on bad feelings. It analyzed the conversation, trying to pick up on as many details about the hedgehog as possible. When Metal was satisfied, it scampered off, rustling the bush just a bit. It ran back to the base, tripping over itself quite a few times. Metal knew it was a better idea to walk, but running was fun and it didn’t want to risk Sonic spotting it. It didn’t want Sonic to see it until it was completely ready to fight. Because that’s what it was made for, right? Metal was supposed to fight and destroy Sonic. There was no point in letting Sonic see it before it was ready for that.

Once it was back at the base, Metal took the fastest path to its room and sat on the floor, taking time to fully think about and process the conversation from earlier. After a few minutes of watching and rewatching the footage, it deduced the following things: Sonic was male, Sonic was fast, Sonic had a lot of friends, and Sonic was “cool”.

With that new information, Metal decided that it had to be all those things too. It also had to be better at those things than Sonic. Metal had to be male, super fast, very popular, and cooler. It had no clue how to do that. But, what it could do right now, was go through the dictionary it had on its hard drive and figure out what exactly “male” was and how it was supposed to be that.

It scanned through the data, and then let out a beeping noise. Ah. Male. Male was a gender. The typical male pronouns were he, him, and his. Metal let out another beep as it saved that to its memory. He was a boy. Metal was a boy.

Calling himself male had an oddly nice ring to it. It made Metal feel a bit more real, and he liked that. He liked feeling real and he liked being a boy. Metal stood up and started making his way to where Eggman was. He wanted to tell the other that he was a boy now, this way there wouldn’t be any misunderstandings in the future. Metal didn’t want to confuse Eggman by randomly calling himself a boy. It took Metal longer than he expected to find the room where Eggman was, but once he did, he walked up to the doctor. 

Eggman was currently hunched over a control board, adjusting some switches or something. Metal didn’t know what exactly it was or why Eggman was doing it. He waited until it looked like Eggman was at a stopping point, and then grabbed onto the man’s coat. He tugged on it lightly.

“Doctor?” He said, tilting his head. His voice chip was already starting to replicate the way Sonic sounded, based on what he had heard earlier.

Eggman jumped a bit, nearly hitting his head on the control panel. He turned to look at Metal. “Yes, Metal Sonic?” He asked, looking down at the robot.

“I am a boy,” Metal said, looking up at the other. He pointed to himself just to clarify.

Eggman blinked and made a confused face. He let out a small chuckled. “Well uh… You’re a robot, Metal Sonic,” he said slowly, perplexed. Robots couldn’t have genders.

Metal nodded. “Yes, I am a robot. A male robot,” he said.

Eggman blinked again, before laughing lightly. He stood to be corrected, turns out robots could have genders. Eggman didn’t want to argue with Metal, and he wasn’t about to stop the other from being a boy if he wanted to be one. He grinned. “Yes, you’re right. You’re a male robot.”

Metal let out a string of happy beeps, nodding. “I am better at being male than Sonic.” He crossed his arms. He didn’t like Sonic. Sonic copied him and made him feel weird and fake. Metal was better than Sonic. 

Eggman nodded, letting out another hearty laugh. “You sure are, my boy!” he said, reaching his hand out to pat Metal’s head. Then he pulled it away. Oh yeah, Metal didn’t like to be touched. He looked away for a moment, then smiled again. “You’re better than Sonic in every way. You’re the best, Metal Sonic.”

“Yes, I am. Thank you, doctor. I am going to go charge now.” Metal said, before promptly turning around and exiting the room. That went well. He felt happy. He was good. He liked it when Eggman complimented him. 

It made him feel a lot better. Metal felt a lot better than he had felt earlier. He wasn’t average or subpar or mediocre or any of those things he had thought earlier. He had just been doubting himself. Eggman was right! Metal was the best! If Metal could smile, he definitely would be right now.

When he got back to his room, Metal hooked himself up to his charging station. He set a few objectives for himself, and then entered sleep mode. He’d need to train, learn how to fight, work on running as fast as he could, make friends, learn more about Sonic, and be cool. He’d do that tomorrow, though. Right now he had to charge.

**Author's Note:**

> So!! I'm not sure how to explain this (like my tags explained lmao) but this is basically gonna be metal sonic developing as a character because I.... love... hi,.m.... Metal is my son!!!
> 
> In terms of characterization this will be all over the place?? Similar to sonic boom in tone (and also eggmans personality) but not quite cause!! its not full on sonic boom and fsejerhiw idk idk I cant tell what versions of the characters I want to use yet
> 
> Anyway!!!!!!!! comments and kudos are appreciated and make my day <3


End file.
